Meanwhile, thereís a serious risk to this purchase: disgruntling the other cellphone companies that make Windows phones. Samsung and HTC canít be thrilled that the maker of Windows Phone software will now manufacture its own cellphones. Can Microsoft, with a straight face, really claim that its own phone engineers donít have easier access to Microsoftís software engineers? That they wonít know stuff sooner than Samsung and HTC will? That Microsoft wonít consciously or unconsciously promote its own brand over Samsung and HTC?

Microsoft likely is taking a long term view that phones at some point in time will become the basis for personal PC's, possibly within a decade. Pop your Microsoft Lumia 2023 phone into your Microsoft PC dock and turn it into a full fledged computer with your choice of monitor and input devices, along with automatic backup of the phone's (primary device) data. There is no limit to what MSFT can do if they look ahead and execute properly. They can leapfrog the competition and be undisputed king of the hill. Apple and Google likely have similar aspirations as a single device with a dock makes tremendous sense due to its ease of use, once the hardware shrinks to allow a powerful enough full PC in a phone form factor.